The 2012 death of a piglet being used in a pediatric research project
at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has reignited scrutiny of the
Nashville health institution by animal rights activists.

The piglet, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection
report, suffocated and died because of a failure by an outside
contractor to reconnect an air supply system, according to a U.S.
Department of Agriculture inspection report last September.

The death of the animal, which came to the attention of federal
officials in a routine inspection, is the latest controversy to surface
at the facility and has led critics of the use of animals in research to
call for other federal action against the medical center, possibly
including fines.

A USDA official said Vanderbilt had addressed the problem and no
additional action was necessary.

According to the report based on the Sept. 9 inspection, the piglet was
found dead in its container on July 12, 2012. The medical center,
according to a series of published studies, used piglets in examining
lung development problems in babies born prematurely.

“It was determined that the outside vendor supplying tanks did not
reattach the newly replaced compressed air tank to the regulator,” the
report states.

Disclosure of the death has prompted a Cincinnati advocacy group to call
for fines to be imposed on the university.

“Clearly the situation at Vanderbilt is very serious,” said Michael
Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now.

In his statement, issued last month, Budkie cited prior citations at
Vanderbilt, including fines imposed in 2010 relating to the deaths of
six animals.

Vanderbilt officials dismissed Budkie’s comments by noting that his
organization opposes the use of any animal in human research projects.
John Howser, a Vanderbilt spokesman, said Budkie’s organization’s “sole
mission is to stop the use of animals in research.”

“The reality is most lifesaving procedures and medications in use today,
for both humans and animals, would not have been possible without the
ability to conduct prior research and training in animals,” he added.

Corrective measures

Published research studies by Vanderbilt medical researchers show that
piglets were used during the same time period as the death in a study
into the breathing difficulties of prematurely born infants.

“The use of an animal model in this context is helping answer complex
questions about how to address life-threatening deficits to lung
development in babies that are born prematurely,” Howser said, though he
never explicitly acknowledged that the death was connected to the study.

A USDA spokesman, Michael Booth, said Vanderbilt had undertaken
corrective measures after the incident and the agency planned no further
action.

He noted that those measures included the installation of a backup tank
and signage warning against unauthorized personnel disconnecting the air
supply.

Past findings involving Vanderbilt animal research include a 2012 USDA
report citing a primate that suffered a fractured tibia. The animal was
euthanized.

The same report cited the university for research animals being left
without water for up to 48 hours.

A 2011 report cited the university for having a researcher who was not
listed as an approved surgeon performing brain surgery on a research
animal. The animal suffered immediate complications requiring additional
procedures, according to the report.

In 2010 Vanderbilt was hit with an $8,156 fine after a Galago monkey was
tossed into a washer along with some bedding. The monkey died.
Vanderbilt was also cited at the same time in the death of five hamsters
after they were injected with an improperly mixed chemical.

Howser, Vanderbilt’s assistant vice chancellor for news and
communications, said the university “remains firmly committed to the
highest standard of care and the most humane protocols for all animals
necessary to conduct research and training.”